The Moribund Star
by TheFlyingNeko
Summary: "I've always been saved by Natsu... Whether it was phantom lord, the s-class exams or the infinity clock. I'm no longer going to be a damsel in distress. This time, I'll be the one who saves others!" A nalu fanfic. Rated T for violence.
1. Disappearance

Hey everyone! I'm back with another Fairy Tail fanfic! I've decided to write a full on out Nalu fanfic this time, dedicated to all Nalu fans out there! I'm planning for this to be about 10-15 chapters, and with the inclusion of some OCs that play a part in the story. **Also, I'm looking for a beta-reader for this fanfic, so if you are interested, please PM me!** Last but not least, I hope you all enjoy this story! Without further ado, lets let the story unfold!

Edit: I've changed the name of the fanfic from 'Damsel in Distress' to 'The Moribund Star' cause that name is just way too mainstream. But both fit well so:)

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters:)

-TheFlyingNeko

* * *

"Natsuuuuu…" Lucy whined yet again for the twelfth time in the hour. "How long more do we have to walkkkkk?"

They were on a job together without Gray or Erza for the first time in a while. Thus, they decided to take one that was pretty far away, so they would spend more time together. Lucy was relieved when she realised it was just a job to subdue some bandits.

"I don't know. Why don't you just call out that clock guy?" Natsu said irritatedly.

"I did just half an hour ago! He timed out…" Lucy groaned.

"Whatever the case, it's good news that the train broke down! Right, Happy?" Natsu asked.

"Aye! But you do know you still have to take a train later, right?" Happy reminded him.

"Damn it, Happy! Why must you remind me?!" Natsu said, his face turning pale at the sound of it.

The train from Magnolia to Gerbera station had broken down, and they had to go there to transfer to a different train so as to reach Zinnia, since there were no direct trains. Magnolia to Gerbera was supposed to be a half an hour journey by train, so it would take several hours on foot. However, the ride from Gerbera to Zinnia would take about 12 hours by train, so Natsu couldn't complain about it.

"12 hours, Natsu. 12." Lucy said, with an evil glint in her eyes.

"Lucyyyyyy! Have mercy on me, please!" Natsu pleaded, making an attempt to cover his ears.

"Oh yeah, Natsu. We are going to be taking the train for a whole twelve hours. Imagine twelve hours on a train… Rumbling and shaking and-" Lucy noticed Natsu's pathetic face, and started giggling.

"What's so funny, Lucy?" Natsu asked, pouting.

"Nothing. I was just thinking we should make a deal. If you carry me for the rest of the journey then I'll stop mentioning anything about trains or transportation." Lucy said, a smirk crawling up her face.

"Fine… You promise?" Natsu said.

"Yes, yes, I promise." Lucy said, climbing onto Natsu's back.

"Alright, then! Full speed ahead!" Natsu said, running off at high speed.

"Aye, sir!" Happy said, flying off after him.

"N-n-n-natsu! Not so fast!" Lucy yelled as the wind swished past her face.

* * *

"Finally, a comfy seat!" Lucy said, stretching after taking a seat on the train.

"You mean my back wasn't comfy?" Natsu asked, eyeing Lucy.

"N-no! That's not what I meant! It was warm and relaxi-" Lucy quickly cut off and covered her mouth.

'Did I just try to say that Natsu's back was warm and relaxing? But I have to admit, Natsu's warmth was very comforting… It was just so comfortable that I didn't want to leave his side… Like I could trust him and- Wait, what on earthland am I thinking?!' Lucy thought to herself before going bright red.

"What's wrong, Lucy? Your face is-" Happy asked, before being cut off my Lucy.

"I just need the bathroom for a sec!" She said as she ran off towards the end of the train.

"Lucy, wa-" Natsu called out, before feeling his stomach flip as the train started moving.

"What... On earth... Just happened..." Lucy muttered to herself in front of the mirror in the small cubicle that the train provided. "It's not like I like Natsu that way! Sure, I do trust him and yeah, his back was co-... I mean, I li- NO! I just enjoy his company as a friend, that's all there is… Yeah, Lucy, nothing wrong. He's just your best friend. ARRGH, CLEAR YOUR MIND, LUCY!"

"What's goin' on in there? What's all the racket about? Could you hurry up, damn it… I've been waiting for five minutes already!"

Someone outside the door was yelling at Lucy, who had been in there yelling at herself.

"Oh, sorry! I'll be right out!" Lucy replied, embarrassed to know that someone had heard her yelling at herself.

She exited the cubicle, realising that there was a long queue outside.

"I'm sorry!" Lucy apologized, feeling her face flare up yet again.

As the man who yelled at her walked towards the cubicle, he muttered to himself, 'crazy girl'. Lucy heard it, and really flared up this time, and tried her best to resist the urge to punch him in the face.

"How dare he call me crazy. Foolish old man." Lucy muttered, gritting her teeth.

She walked back to the compartment that Natsu and happy were in and took a deep breath before walking back in again. Natsu was looking exhausted and yet it hasn't even been 15 minutes, while Happy was impatiently flying around.

"Lucy! There you are! It's been so boring without you around! All Natsu had been doing was complaining and complaining non-stop!" Happy cried out as he leaped into Lucy's shoulder.

Well… Natsu is Natsu, after all." Lucy sighed, pretending that nothing had happened.

Lucy sat down and looked out of the window, before realizing the amazing view.

"Whoa... Hang on, are we still in Gerbera?" Lucy asked.

"Aye! This train circles around town for a bit because this town has awesome views!" Happy said.

"I can totally see that! Look at that sunset! it's so amazing and romantic... I mean, if I was with a date, that is." Lucy said, glad to have corrected her mistake quickly.

Even the completely sick Natsu looked out of the window for a while, and the three of them had a rare moment of silence where they enjoyed the sunset.

A while later, the twelve hour long ride was over. Lucy was relieved that no one mentioned anything about what had happened earlier... Not like this bunch of thick headed dimwits were expected to, anyway.

"Here we are, in Zillia!" Lucy exclaimed excitedly, wondering how the town would be like.

She was actually surprised by the number of people who got off the train at Zillia. And by that, she meant none.

The train headed into a tunnel about half an hour ago, since Zillia's station was underground. In fact, the one and only underground station. The station was dim and eerie, and not to mention silent- a very rare situation.

But of course, those situations don't last long.

"Oh man, sweet, sweet, land!" Natsu shouted, lying flat on the ground.

"Natsu! Please, you're disturbing the peace and quiet around here! Man, this must be one of the most peaceful towns in history..." Lucy said, eager to run off to the exit. "C'mon, Natsu! Get your butt off the ground and let's get out of here!"

Lucy tried to pull Natsu to his feet, but to no avail. After all, the dragonslayer was much heavier and stronger, and could pull Lucy down in one heave.

"Fine... Fine... I'll get up. But Lucy, you really have to get stronger." Natsu said, pulling himself up.

"Why? What are you implying?!" Lucy asked.

"Well... The thing is... I couldn't even feel you tugging at me." Natsu said, causing Lucy to gape at him.

"What?! I was pulling with all my might!" Lucy said, shocked.

"You were?" Natsu asked, puzzled.

"Natsu! You're such an idiot! Don't you ever know how to talk to girls properly?!" Lucy asked.

"You're weird, Lucy. You don't even act like a girl!" Natsu exclaimed.

... Before Lucy turned around and stared daggers at him.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, alright?" Natsu said, scared.

"She looks even fiercer than Erza sometimes."

"I can hear you!" Lucy huffed, storming towards the exit.

The moment Lucy exited, she froze, resulting in Natsu crashing into her. Happy was also staring in front, his mouth wide open.

"What the, why did yo-" Natsu whined, before realizing the scene unfold in front of his eyes.

"Natsu... These can't be the bandits listed in the job, right? And I thought this was a peaceful town... I can see why now." Lucy asked.

"I think they are..." Natsu muttered.

At least a hundred bandits were gathered in front of the train station, and it was clear who their target was- Natsu and Lucy. They were all armed with dangerous magic weapons. Lucy, at least, knew they weren't ordinary.

"No wonder the job pays so much!" Lucy complained, getting her keys ready.

"Yeah. They smell dangerous too. Be careful, Lucy." Natsu said, his hands flaming up.

'Wait, did Natsu just ask me to be careful? No, this is not the time, Lucy! Not the time!' Lucy's wild thoughts appeared once again.

"Charge!" The man who seemed like who was in charge of the bandits commanded, as the entire flock charged forward.

There weren't this many listed in the request! If they knew, they would have asked Gray and Erza to tag along! This was a bit too much for two -or three- of them to handle. Natsu was probably the only one who's definitely safe. Lucy was in trouble.

"Go! Gate of the bull, Taurus!" Lucy yelled, sending out Taurus, who let out a war cry before charging towards them.

However, they were just too many. Even though Taurus could handle the enemies around him, the rest flowed through the side and charged towards Lucy.

"Looks like I have to use my trump card, after all. Gate of the lion, Loke!" Lucy said, as Loke appeared in front of her, sending a few enemies flying back.

"Hiyaaaaaah!" Happy yelled as he headbutted a bandit with his max speed as a power boost.

Even Happy was fighting hard.

Lucy took out her whip and unleashed the flure de olivere, managing to take out a few enemies on her own.

Natsu... There's clearly no need to mention him. He was easily clearing out the enemies, and he himself had cleared out half of them already.

However, a man wearing peculiar clothes suddenly appeared. Bright yellow, orange, pink, blue -all the colours- put in random patches. He waited for Lucy to knock out the enemies in front of her, then leaped out to give a surprise attack. But, Lucy didn't flinch. Instead, she flung the whip at him, clearly knowing that he would be knocked away. But...

He grabbed it.

That man grabbed the whip so easily as if it didn't hurt, and sent it flying back to her. Taurus, Loke and Happy were all shocked, but they were too late, even though they has already started sprinting towards her. The man had already sent something flying at Lucy. She sat there in fear, unable to move and injured from her own whip. When the thing he sent flying was was just inches away... Natsu stood in the path of it, stretching his arms out as if to protect Lucy. However, he was too late to attack, so it struck him right in the chest.

And he disappeared.

* * *

Thank you for reading! If you like this story please do support me by following, favouriting, and/or reviewing! Critiques are very much welcome:) Thank you!

-TheFlyingNeko


	2. Ropes and Blindfolds

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I've updated, but I've changed the name of the fanfic from 'Damsel in Distress' to 'The Moribund Star'! (As you can see) The name, I realised, was pretty mainstream, so I decided to change it. Besides, both names fit pretty well!

Anyways, here's Chapter 2 of _The Moribund Star_! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, and it rightfully belongs to our favourite Hiro Mashima-dono!

-TheFlyingNeko:)

* * *

Natsu Dragneel, the strongest member of their team at the moment, had disappeared.

"Natsu...?" Lucy muttered in shock.

"Natsu!" Happy yelled as he came to a standstill. His eyes and mouth were wide open, and tears were about to flow out from his eyes.

"Natsu!" Loke yelled, staring transfixed in horror.

'No way.

This can't be happening.

Natsu did not just protect me from some fatal blow and disappear.'

"We have our hostage, although not the one we wanted... Whatever, let's go." The man said, as he, along with the bandits, disappeared.

"NOOO! NATSUUUUUU! GIVE NATSU BACK!" Lucy screamed, but she was just too late.

He was gone.

"Wait... He said 'hostage'... Right?" Loke said, trying to cheer Lucy up just a bit.

"That's means... Natsu-san is still alive." Taurus said.

"Yeah... T-That's most probably true..." Happy said, tears falling onto his cheeks.

"I'm guessing there was a teleportation lacrima embedded in that arrow he sent there." Loke said. "Lucy-"

"Why... Why didn't he let me get struck? There's no need for someone like him to save me, of all people. Why..." Lucy said, tears streaming down her face.

"L-"

"Taurus, Loke, go back... It's okay... I don't need you here..." Lucy said, looking up with her tear-stricken face.

Taurus hesitated for a moment before going back to the celestial world, knowing that staying would just make it worse. However, Loke stayed behind.

"Loke... Go back..." Lucy said pathetically.

"I refuse. I'm still a member of Fairy Tail, and if someone's down, everyone shares that feeling. If someone is taken away, everyone must fight back. And I must also fight... For my master's happiness." Loke said, putting a hand on Lucy's shoulder.

"We will get Natsu back."

"Yeah... We will... Thanks, Loke." Lucy said, wiping her tears away.

"Sitting here and moping won't do Natsu good. We must try our best and find Natsu!" Lucy declared. "Loke, you should really rest now. We will need your energy later, so for now, leave it to us!"

"Alright then. If you need me, just call my name. I'll come out of my own accord. We don't want to waste your magic power either. See you." Loke said, before going back to the spirit world.

"Yeah! Thanks!" Lucy said.

Lucy then tried to stand up, since she was sprawled out on the ground, but her injured leg sent a wave of shock and pain through her body and caused her to fall back down again.

"Lucy! Are you okay?" Happy asked, picking Lucy up.

"Yeah, I'm fine... This... Is nothing..." Lucy said, as she was slowly put back on the ground again.

She managed to stand this time and sustained it for a while. She looked at her wound and examined it.

"Alright, I'm fine." Lucy said, smiling to happy.

"Aye. Lucy, what's your plan?" Happy asked.

"They didn't leave around any bandits for us to interrogate... But we still need to find the person who gave us this job! It might have been one of the bandits as a lure... Or maybe a helpless citizen! Thinking of that... Doesn't this town seem a little too quiet?" Lucy asked.

They shared a moment of silence where they surveyed the town, and indeed, it was pindrop silence.

"Impossible..." Happy said.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah..."

"Alright then... You take the left and I'll take the right." Lucy said.

"Aye..." Happy said.

"If you run in any trouble, or find something, send up this signal flare." Lucy said, passing Happy one of the signal flares. "I've brought some out with me recently."

"Aye, sir! We meet back here in an hour's time if we have no luck." Happy said, flying off towards the buildings on the left.

"Mm!" Lucy agreed before running off to the buildings on the right.

* * *

"Oh Mavis... Is this for real?"

Lucy had went into all the houses just now, but all of them were empty, and barely had any sign of living. The windows were smashed in, tables flipped. The kitchens were also robbed, and there were several drawers lying on the floor. All that was left was this warehouse.

Hundreds of innocent civilians sat on the ground, each tied up with a bundle of rope. Their mouths were taped up and they had blindfolds on... And it didn't seem like they've only been there for hours.

"Gate of the crab, open! Cancer!" Lucy said, as Cancer appeared.

"Would you need me to cut all their hair-ebi?" Cancer asked.

"No... Cut off their ropes and blindfolds!" Lucy said, sighing. Cancer was as oblivious as ever.

"Okay-ebi." Cancer said, before swiftly cutting off all their ropes and blindfolds.

However, not as expected, the citizens fell on the ground one by one when they were free. They were too weak and only held by those ropes, and couldn't even help themselves take off the tapes on their mouths. Some children had already fainted as well.

"Oh no..." Lucy said, shocked.

Luckily, a few of them managed to sit up and pull off the tapes, and were starting to help the others too.

"I'll get Happy to help too. Cancer, try and remove all the tapes. No- not with your scissor! You're gonna cut them! Use your hands!" Lucy said, before running out.

She sent the signal flare up in the air and it appeared with a boom. Satisfied, she ran back in again.

Lucy, Cancer, and along with five or so of men who were strong enough to help slowly removed all their tapes- that's when Happy arrived.

"Lucy!-" Happy stared in horror at the many civilians, each weak and unable to move.

"Happy! Just in time! We need a little help here..." Lucy said, as Happy rushed over.

"Aye." Happy said, realising that they were helping the rest take off their tapes.

A whole fifteen minutes later, they finally managed to remove all the tapes.

"Who knew removing tapes would be this tiring..." Lucy whined yet again, as she sat facing all of them. "Oh, right! Happy, could you go find some rations for them to consume? Perhaps some water and food would do."

"Aye sir!" Happy said, flying off.

The five citizens who have helped remove others' tapes as well came over to Lucy -Cancer having gone back to the celestial world- and sat down beside her.

"Thanks for saving us. We deeply appreciate it." The man in the middle said, as they bowed to Lucy.

"No, it's fine! We were just here on a job... However, the moment we reached Zillia, the bandits attacked us as if they knew we were coming. And… They took our precious nakama, Natsu away. We have put his safety as our highest priority right now… Speaking of which... Do you know who sent out the job request?" Lucy asked.

"Oh, you're a mage? No wonder! Unfortunately, no, none of us sent a job request. All of us are probably too poor to even afford those kinds of things. We were barely able to feed the entire town and when we finally had our harvests... The bandits came. The bandits always stayed on the mountain to the side, and since robbing us wouldn't be of use since we were all so poor already, they didn't take any action. However, a month ago, they started attacking us, so someone must had sent a request a while ago-"

"But I think I know who." The teenage boy sitting the side said, catching everyone's attention.

* * *

And that's it for now:) I'll update after my exams end, but if you like the story so far, do drop me a review, favourite and/or follow! (And thank you to those who have done so, so far!:))

-TheFlyingNeko


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